//------------------------------// // Increased Necessities // Story: Heavy Burdens // by polygonsmasher //------------------------------// ~Meanwhile at Fluttershy's cottage~ "So Angel, what do you think about Frowny?" Fluttershy asked The bunny rabbit shakes with his head, shivers a little and then raises his shoulders in a weird gesturing order. "Now now, it's not polite to talk about other ponies like that behind his back Angel. You should know better." Fluttershy then said with a rather motherly sounding tone. Fluttershy looked out the window and stared at the clouds standing stationary in the light blue morning sky as mist slowly began to clear. When the mist cleared a faint red light was visible coming from the lake near Fluttershy's place. With every minute passing the light gets a deeper color and resets its wavelength after about 10 minutes later. "I could actually see him from the windows upstairs!" Fluttershy suddenly said to herself. She flew upstairs and then towards one of the windows. There was a clear view of the lake from that window. The lake was of a clear light blue color. With sandy shores covered with boulders here and there. Although the yellow sands were now replaced with the red light from what seems to be Frowny's aura. "He must be doing that meditation thing again..." Fluttershy said. Angel then appeared right beside the window and also took a good look at what was happening outside. The bunny glanced at Fluttershy who seems to be watching Frowny very closely. His aura was still changing wavelength each minute from a lighter color to a darker color and was repeating the cycle. It reminded Fluttershy of something and then suddenly went off into her bedroom. "Where did I put it again? Oh... Why don't I keep things tidy for once!" Fluttershy said to herself She searched the whole bedroom somehow avoiding the spot where she placed Frowny's bed. After a while of searching Fluttershy yelled out: "AHA! found you!" Fluttershy picked up a crystal. The same crystal that Frowny gave her three days ago. It was a glowing red crystal constantly giving off some kind of radiation. The crystal was changing color the same way Frowny's aura was at that moment. The radiation also frequently got stronger or weaker giving a weird sensation to Fluttershy. Who stared deep into the crystal. "No matter how often I look at it... It's still just as pretty" Fluttershy whispered. Angel had been watching her look for the crystal and when she held it up like that It caught his eyes. Angel hopped closer entering the room. Still watching the red crystal closely drooling a little. Fluttershy noticed Angel standing, watching the crystal. She smiled and said: "You like it too huh Angel?" The bunny nodded wildly and looked like he was almost ready to jump for it and snatch it from her. Fluttershy flew out of the bedroom with the crystal though to his disappointment. She then flew downstairs into the living room again. Hastily looking for some strings. "Frowny said I need to have it with me at all times. So I better make sure I never forget!" Fluttershy said while still searching. Fluttershy found some balls of wool in some drawers after a while. Along with something to hold the crystal in. Fluttershy quickly crafted a necklace out of it. She looked at what she made saying: "This way I can keep it with me!..." Fluttershy gazed into the necklace again, still glowing clear red. She thought back to the moment she got it from Frowny, along with what task he entrusted Fluttershy with. "When it glows black... And starts to crack. Frowny will be..." And then she got reminded of what Frowny showed her and everypony else in the mind transfer spell. The image of the Nightmarification was still clear in her mind. And with this crystal she'd know whether he'd be like that or not. She tried not to think about it, but it kept aching in her mind. She knew that the power that comes with a Nightmare helps Frowny, but how he gets those awful scars the first time but never gets hurt any other time he Nightmarifies was something Fluttershy always wondered about. "I have to ask him..." Fluttershy whispered, "But I can't now... He's busy meditating..." Fluttershy put the necklace on around her neck and walked to the window in the room. She couldn't see Frowny from there. But in the near distance the red light was still noticeable slightly. Fluttershy looked down at the floor, wondering about the subject once more. How did he get those scars? She had to find out. ~Meanwhile at Twilights library~ "Twilight I'm back!" "Twilight! you there?" Spike had just returned from his sleepover. He was sent away by Twilight so that training could go much more smoother. And besides, Spike always loves to be around Rarity. The thought only could already set his heart racing. Twilight was still asleep though. She was incredibly worn out from her own training. "... Spike... It's still so early in the morning, just go unpack your stuff already and leave me be..." Twilight said while snoozing away soon after. Spike raised his shoulders and went back to the other room. He dropped the rather large bag on the ground and looked around. He noticed that it was getting a bit messy in the library when he was gone. He sighed and decided he had better get things organized again. After an hour Twilight woke up. She yawned and checked the time. "9:46... Well lets get out of bed... Time for some more training." Twilight said. She hopped out, cleaned herself and did her hair. She then went to the main room of the library where Spike was busy re-organizing the books. Spike noticed Twilight entering and instantly stopped with what he was doing. "So... Spike, where did you decide to stay?" Twilight asked. "At first I was with Rarity, but I ended up staying with Pinkie Pie for a while too!" Twilight then picked another book up with her magic and placed on the lectern in the room. The book came from the pile marked 'homework' by Frowny. He wanted Twilight to continue both studying and training at the same time as Twilight figured. So thats what she did. "And what where you doing while I was gone Twilight?" Spike suddenly asked. Twilight opened up the book at the first page before answering. Then she turned to Spike and answered: "Frowny taught me combat magic after you left, since then I've been training by myself." Spike noticed Twilight was different somehow. Or rather more serious than usual. "So who is Frowny anyway? I mean, I didn't see what you all saw." Spike said Twilight sighed and sat down. "Well okay then, I'll tell you everything that I got from this mess. Frowny is from the Shineless bloodline, the bloodline mostly consists of well trained warriors that are frequently summoned for military duties a long time ago. The Shineless bloodline was founded by a unicorn called Shineless. He was a member of the royal guard system from the second age." Twilight paused for a minute and thought the story through. "So Frowny is from this Shineless bloodline? But what does that have to do with the Nightmare stuff." Spike asked. "I looked into the subject of Nightmares. Nightmares are demonic ponies from another realm and are to be enslaved by arch demons. Or so the myth tells. Their manes are hellfire and their skin and coat is pure blackness representing the hollow rage that the creature feasts upon. Though the myth doesn't say anything about ponies being able to transform to a Nightmare form or anything like it. The archive records we took also doesn't seem to have anything on the subject except for that one picture we found." "But somehow Frowny can do that and thats what caused his banishment isn't it?" Spike asked. "Uh huh. He was banished to an immense area called 'The Deeper Parts Of Equestria'. This area is secured by a very large barrier of a very strong type. Frowny showed us that he was banished there so that he could learn to tame his Nightmare powers. That way he could get out of 'The Deeper Parts Of Equestria' on his own." "But how could he do that without any way to study for it?" Spike once again asks. "Well the Princess would never banish somepony without giving them proper chances. She made sure that Frowny could continue learning and studying if he sincerely wanted to redeem himself. Therefore she ordered that a copy of every single book from that time was delivered in a compact format so that Frowny would be shot in the right direction. Though breaking through the actual barrier was something nopony achieved before and therefore Frowny had to figure all that out on his own." Twilight then suddenly paused again and quietly stared in front of her with a hollow stare and open mouth. Spike waved in front of her face for once and then raised his shoulders. "Twilight!? Are you still in there!!?" Spike yelled, though no response was given. So Spike decided to wait a little while. ... "...Oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!!! IT CAN'T BE!!!" Twilight suddenly shouted from the top of her lungs. Spike jumped up from surprise, some sparks flew around coming from Twilights horn at that moment. "What, what, what, what, what!, WHAT!, WHAT!!" Spike shouted as a response. Twilight teleported to a bookcase nearby in mid-air and quickly grabbed a book from the top shelve. She tossed it right into her bag that appeared right next to her on the ground. She landed, raised the bag onto her back and ran out of the library racing towards Celestia knows where. Spike watched the whole process with great surprise and awe. "The... The training really did help huh..." Spike stuttered to himself. -~Meanwhile at Sweet Apple Acres~- "Ah yesh, Ah do reckon seeing Lil' Frowny before. Wash an aeful long time ago, the lil' bugger was quite lively back then." Granny Smith said. "Strange though. Ah reckon never even heard about 'im." Big Mac followed. "The memories are still faint on mah side too, real faint. But Ah for once DO reckon seeing 'im before!" Applejack cheerfully yelled at both ponies. In this apparent situation Applejack explained to Big Mcintosh and Granny Smith who visited some time ago. Applejack didn't mention it before becaus she had to collect a lot of thoughts to process all of the things the came over her that day. Not only the mind transfer technique, but also Soulbel's war threat was quite a situation to handle. "Sow, There'sh a war coming our way again ish'nt it?" Granny smith asked. "Seems that way..." Applejack answered. "But my duty will always lie with Ponyville and Canterlot. Ah would never let anypony down!." Applejack supported herself. "Ah'm sure you wouldn't. But fighting a war, You'll need a lot more help than you six alone." Big Mac said. "And THATS why we have Frowny! He's already contacted Princess Celestia and Luna about this so Ah'm sure it won't be just the six of us!" Applejack answered. "Well that changesh thingsh..." Granny Smith interrupted, "But Ah shtill think ye need shome help with thish. What about you Mcintosh?" Big Mac turned his head surprised at his grandmother. "M-Me? Ah can't fight!" Bic Mac protested. "Oh come on Big Mac! Course you can! Ah reckon your the strongest stallion out here! It would sure help if we'd recruit you!" Applejack pressured. "But..." "So lets go find Frowny already!" "...But..." "And tell him your joining!" "...BUT..." Applejack grabbed Big Mac by his tail and walked towards town to find Frowny. Applejack was sure that Big Mac would be able to fight alongside her. Though Big Mac wasn't so sure... ~Meanwhile at Rarity's boutique~ "*Sigh* Spike can be such a handful some times..." Rarity sulks. "Oh come on Rarity! He's such a fun playmate!" Pinkie Pie cheers. "But I will never finish my work in time if I always have to take care about him!" "Aw don't be like that, it's not like you were busy on anything particular this week anyway." "Well thats because... cause..." Rarity and Pinkie Pie have been taking care of Spike in the time period that Twilight had to train. But that wasn't the only thing on their mind the whole time. "Do you remember what that Frowny said Pinkie?" Rarity asked. "Huh!? Of course! How could I forget! Wasn't it something about a big battle we were supposed to fight?" Pinkie responded sounding slightly more downbeat than ten seconds ago. "Yes... But what are we supposed to do? I can't fight!?" Rarity said. "But remem-berrr, you have a powerful fancy neck-lessss!" Pinkie cheered in a melody. "Well thats the other thing, we've only used those things two or three times. And back then we only fought one enemy at a time! How are we supposed to defeat a whole army!?" Rarity made a good point, Pinkie was thinking about this one. But soon came up with a sufficient answer. "Oh, Rarity. Remember? You have an itty bitty horn there! Frowny mentioned you and Twilight were really gonna be useful right!?" Pinkie complimented. "Well yes... That is true" Rarity said, "But I'm really not as good as Twilight! I'd come no further than the basics really! Not to mention combat!" Rarity changed back to seriousness. "Well I remember you trying yesterday!" Pinkie said again. Rarity gasped at that moment, she didn't think Pinkie would know about something like that. "How did you!!? Ugh I've learned it's better not to ask anyway..." Rarity answered. "And not to mention Twilight visited the day before too! I saw her coming into your boutique that day! Just when I was treating Spike some candy!" Pinkie said with a teasing tone. "Yes well... She wanted to discuss something with me." "Yeeees!?..." Pinkie pressured. "...About that Frowny colt..." "Thats not all of it!!?" Pinkie pressured more. "Fine! We were training. She persuaded me to at least get into defensive spells and nothing more!" Rarity answered finally to Pinkie's satisfaction. "See that wasn't so hard. You know you should really get to use your magic some more Rarity! Otherwise who's gonna protect your silly little boutique when the huge battle starts hm?" Pinkie teased. Rarity saw where Pinkie was going and tried to reverse the subject. "Well what are you gonna do besides representing your element Pinkie!?" "Oh I got things already figured out, BELIEVE me this is gonna be SO easy! you'll be surprised!" "But Frowny said that this Soulbel creature uses golems! What are you gonna do about those!" Rarity asked. "Silly Rarity! Remember, Celestie is gonna take care of that with her sunny powers! Frowny mentioned those nasty golems being weak to sunlight!" Pinkie answered. "But besides these golems theres gonna be much more coming our way! And I can't imagine you of all ponies being able to fight huge creatures like dragons or such!" "...hm... Good point! I guess we'll have to ask Frowny about both our part then!" Pinkie answered again with a teasing tone. And thats when Pinkie skipped her way out of the boutique seemingly headed out of town. Rarity then realized she was talking about both her and herself. So she dashed out of the boutique and shouted: "Wait!... Pinkie do you even know where to find Frowny!?" Pinkie then stopped and turned around saying: "Well the only place I would imagine him to be is still near Fluttershy's place! Those two seem to get along pretty well!" And then Pinkie continued skipping onwards heading towards the outskirts of Ponyville to where Fluttershy's place was at. Rarity followed her, though she still wasn't sure of herself. If she really has to fight alongside her friends then she needed much more ability than she had now. ~Meanwhile, somewhere high up in the sky above Ponyville~ Rainbow Dash was resting on a cloud way up in the sky. The thin air set her mind thinking. The training she did with Frowny yesterday sure paid off, she found to be able to go even faster than she ever did go before. Not to mention her prized technique, the sonic rainboom, was even easier to achieve and she no longer needed the help of gravity to pull it off. Despite her progress she still had some questions. She knew she was speedy and strong, but she didn't know about her element besides it being called, 'Loyalty'. Of course she knew what it meant, but how could it strengthen her ability? "It's about time I visited him then.." Rainbow Dash said to herself. She then let herself sink through the cloud and fall all the way down. She had her eyes and wings closed and she was facing towards the ground. She kept falling until she was roughly 50 feet away from the ground when she spread her wings and flew right back up in the sky lightly tapping another cloud that she met on the way. Rainbow Dash observed her surroundings, "He's gotta be around somewhere." She thought to herself Rainbow Dash flew in a random direction until she spotted a faint red light from the corner of her eyes. It only flashed, though it resembled the color that Frowny's aura was so Rainbow Dash halted and turned in it's direction. The red light was coming from the lake just out of town. She looked a little closer and then indeed saw Frowny quietly sitting there at the shores near some boulders. "That must be him!" Rainbow Dash yelled Rainbow Dash spread her wings once again and then sped away in the direction of the lake. Because of the sheer speed, the air pressure she created caused the clouds to move out of her way as if avoiding Rainbow Dash. It didn't take her long before she arrived. Rainbow Dash landed at the shore of the lake roughly 10 feet away from Frowny and walked towards him. From what Rainbow Dash could tell, he was still awake yet somehow training or something. "Uuh... Frowny? Are you in there?" Rainbow Dash asked. No response was given. Rainbow Dash then realized this must be some kind of training method while your asleep. So she sat down from a distance and waited until he finished up. Thats when Fluttershy arrived, "Oh, hey Rainbow Dash. Why are you here?" Fluttershy asked. "I wanted to ask Frowny something, you know... This upcoming battle thingie and all." Rainbow Dash noticed the red glowing gem hanging around Fluttershy's neck and asked: "What's that?" Fluttershy looked at it for a while before answering, "Frowny gave it to me. He said that whenever it starts glowing black or starts to crack it would mean either Frowny being in trouble or him transforming again." Fluttershy said quietly Purple sparks appeared around the lake to the surprise of the two pegasi sitting near Frowny who was still vast meditating. Soon after the sparks, in a bright flash Twilight appeared at the shore across the lake. She looked around her and quickly noticed Frowny, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sitting across from her. Twilight flashed over to their side. "Good morning girls, Frowny seems to be meditating again I see?" Twilight said. "Yeah, he said he would be done not long from now." Fluttershy confirmed. "Huh!? Meditating!? Now what the hay is that!?" Rainbow Dash asked confusedly. "Unicorns of the type 'Creator' meditate to regain their magical strength. It's much like sleeping, though information from the outside is still registered into the brain so he can hear us." Twilight answered Not long after that, Pinkie appeared hopping towards the group of four followed by Rarity. Who clearly seemed doubtful. "Looks like Pinkie and Rarity got here too. Good morning girls!" Twilight said. "G'morning Twilight! So you had some questions for Frowny too huh?" Pinkie asked "Not really, Frowny called me here." Twilight answered. "Called you here? How did he do that?" Pinkie asked again. "Telepathy I presume. You know that Frowny is good at mind spells." Rarity came closer to Frowny and inspected him a bit. Afterwards she quietly stepped back and sat down on the sand looking like she's waiting for him to finish. Twilight and Pinkie noticed Fluttershy's necklace too and Fluttershy told them the same thing she told Rainbow Dash. That she got it from Frowny and how the thing works. Twilight figured it'd be some kind of sensor connected to Frowny's magic then. Suddenly both the gem and Frowny's aura got a much deeper red color than before and the flowing aura started looking like some sort of flame, constantly growing larger. The whole group stood up, stepped back and watched the spectacle. Awed by what they saw, especially Twilight, some red sparks appeared around the aura and Frowny's eyes opened. His eyes were also glowing red. The force created by his magic made the wind grow stronger blowing sand away from him. "Finally I've reached level 8!!" Frowny loudly thought. Frowny's voice echoed around the area. Everypony else knew what they heard but didn't understand. Level 8? As if magic is leveled or something? After a while Frowny's aura subsided and disappeared, along with all the sparks and the blowing wind from before. "So Frowny? Finally finished?" Twilight asked. Frowny stood up and walked towards Twilight. While he walked Twilight felt an overwhelming power coming from Frowny. It felt scary yet reassuring, as if Frowny was trying to comfort everypony by just his magic. "Indeed, and with that I have reach the next level in magical strength! Now I'm sure I can take Soulbel. As for the rest of you, I overheard the conversation you girls held and all of you had some questions for me correct?" Frowny said. "UH-HUH!" Everypony else said in choir. Rainbow dash stepped forward first, "Yeah. I was wondering what our purpose is exactly, or what our role in this fight is." Rainbow Dash asked. Frowny turned over to Rainbow Dash and answered: "Well I thought you all had already figured that out. You five including Applejack who'll arrive here soon, from the Elements of Harmony. Meaning you are able to protect everypony from both Soulbel and it's army." "Thats not what I meant. I meant what is our role particularly." Rainbow Dash corrected. "Well first of all, you have excellent speed and agility. Not to mention strength. So you can perfectly take care of aerial assaults." Frowny turned his head over to Twilight and Rarity. "Twilight and Rarity are both unicorns, they could provide as healers, protectors or fighters using their magical capabilities." Frowny then turned his head over to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. "Fluttershy can take care of anything psychological or wounds that cannot be taken care of using magic. Besides that she will also know when exactly I will be set in a tight spot. I hear she already explained that." Frowny then walked closer to Pinkie Pie. "As for Pinkie, I saw in your mind some knowledge about weaponry am I right?" Pinkie Pie nodded and said: "Yeah thats what I wanted to ask about, if it's okay if I could use my weapons." "Of course you can, but you have to realize you represent the element of laughter. There are some abilities that tie to that." Frowny then backed up a little so he was facing the whole group again. In the meantime Applejack arrived still dragging Big Mcintosh along with her. She then said: "Allright I'm here! Did Ah miss anythin?" Frowny quickly flashed some information over to Applejack's mind using telepathy and said: "I was about to continue to the next subject. But why is your brother here?" "Ah dragged him along with me because Ah thought he might make up to be a good fighter for the battle ahead see?" When Applejack said that Big Mcintosh stepped closer to Frowny to present himself. "Yeah... I'm not so sure but... Ah am strong so I want in on this battle." Frowny walked closer to Big Mcintosh with a serious look on his face. He then examined him a bit closer judging and calculating his potential strength and if he would be useful or not. "Alright... Well let's see how strong you are... Punch me!" Frowny said The rest of the group looked up surprised at Frowny. Big Mac was also surprised and looked at Frowny with widened eyes saying: "Punch you? Are you sure?" "Yeah... Punch me, is that so hard?" Frowny answered. Big Mac raised his hoof and then punched Frowny as hard as he could at that time. Frowny spat some blood, rubbed his face and then said. "Oh yeah, you are pretty strong. You are useful! If you think you can protect both Ponyville and Canterlot from this menace I offer you the information you'll need about what you'll be facing understood?" "Uh, yes sir." Mcintosh replied. Coming from Fluttershy's cottage a set of two scrolls came floating towards Frowny coated with Frowny's aura. When the scrolls arrived Frowny gestured at Big Mac to take them and study them carefully. "You are dismissed..." Frowny said. Big Mcintosh took the scrolls and went back towards his farm across town. Applejack watched him and then turned her head back to Frowny who was about to continue his speech. "Well then now that thats out of the way we can finally start the objective of this afternoon. Namely, we are going to practice some Elements of Harmony!" END OF CHAPTER.